New puppy.

Dog Experience: Well, some, but I'm rusty. I've owned 3 puppies prior to the current, but have not owned a dog since I lived at home with my parents before college. I am now 27. I know and accept that they will make a mess of some things as I have experienced that lovely part of a puppies growth before. That won't shake me nor is it likely raise my ire. Only problem is that most the puppy rearing/decisions were made by my parents since they "knew" best at the time.

The Situation: I have a girlfriend. We own a house complete with yard. We have two cats, both of which we've owned for more than a couple of years and acquired them as kittens. We work within 8 blocks of home so getting home for lunch break, even coordinating lunches so that the dog can spend less time in her confines is easily remedied.

The Pup: 9-10 week old female welsh corgi acquired last weekend.

The not so dramatic dilemma that I need peoples' opinions on: Were crate training her. The evening is very successful, she hasn't pee'd on her dog bed during the evening since the first night which I find a little amazing.

The day is another story. She soiled her puppy bed the first couple of days while we were at work/out. Mind you, we both come home at separate lunch breaks to maximize her unconfined time and we have run the bed through the laundry every time she soiled it and also clean the tray w/ hot water and dish soap the best we can. Anyway, we decided not to put the dog bed in the crate during the day b/c of her success in the evenings and not wanting her to change that habit due to peeing on it during the day.

Is there a recommended bedding we could use as a replacement that would discourage her from peeing in the crate? I prefer to avoid using puppy pads for the same reason I don't like putting a pee stained bed in her crate at night, it seems counter productive.

Should we confine her to the kitchen, placing her crate, complete with bed on one side of the room and a puppy pad on the other? We do a fairly good job of confining her to the areas one of us is in when we are home so she can't stray far from us. We usually put a pad down kind of as a back up and to give her a place to go should we have to leave the room for a brief period of time. We're having about a 60-70 percent success rate w/ her pad usage when these accidents happen, but we do a good job of taking her outside often when we are home.

Any advice, new perspectives/approaches, and corrections to any of my assumptions would be appreciated.

Also, I realize she is young and we might be jumping the gun on any questions/concerns since we are in week 1 of dog ownership.

Not really an expert here but the first thing I would ask is how long is she crated before she is taking out for potty breaks?

How long are you expecting her to hold it during the day?

I'd set her up in a confined area with a puppy pad and crate/sleep area until she's older. Right now, she can only hold it for MAYBE two hours in the daytime. My puppy is four months old and, if he's UP and AWAKE, he still goes every hour.

By evenings, I'm guessing you mean nighttime/overnight?

She has free roam of some area to run and play when you are home, correct? Under supervision, of course, with lots of trips out to potty.

Congrats on the new addition.

I think the confining her to the kitchen would work best. I asume that she is in her kennel for 3-4 hrs at a time hence why she can not hold it. when you or the gf come home for luch she is out drinks more and back in for another 3hr or so. way to long for a 9-10week old pup.

She's in the crate for around 3 hours, give or take some time depending on how busy the day at work is. After work I take her out back and run her around the yard for at least an hour with hopes of burning off some of that puppy energy she's been storing up all day. And then a few more times every couple of hours if she hasn't displayed any "I'm about to go all over your floor" behavior. Other than that, she's not put back into the crate until we go to bed and has free rain of whatever room we're currently inhabiting other than when its bedtime.

Is two hours too long of time between backyard trips in the evening? Should we shorten that interval?

They can generally hold for as many hours as months they are old (a little longer at night)

I am personally NOT a fan of letting them pee in the house (esp when you say she has been so good)

Over the weekend you could keep the same routine but take her out ever 2.5 hours and see if that makes a difference. I would also use a a towel or something that will feel wet to her if she pees on it. I have one dog to this day if you give her a thick bed her crate will pee on it. A towel not so much.

My 15 wk old sheltie still is put out every hour to pee if he's up and about and still HAS to go out that often. If she's awake and up and about, I'd take her out every half hour to an hour at the most. If she's asleep, the minute she wakes up then every half hour to an hour.

It took three years for my female corgi to stop peeing in her crate :yikes:

We need pictures, by the way.

A puppy this age can only hold their bowels for about 2 hours during the day. 1 hour/month of age as Dekka said. At night time, as long as she's on a proper schedule and you put her to bed empty, she could hold it up to 6 hours or as little as 4.
If you are going to confine her to an area and provide her with a potty spot, make sure that you make it an OBVIOUS potty spot. Take whatever you're going to use for her to eliminate on (pads/news paper) and place that inside and inverted, large (bath mat sized) storage container lid. They are only about 2 inches max when inverted but will not teach her to just pee on the floor but that this is an area that she has to hop into and out of.

I would also only add to her area 2 non-destructable/interactive toys, her crate with bedding (white towel) inside and a small amount of water. She will still of course need her mid-day meal/visit. You have her on a 3X/day feeding schedule I assume?

To speed the housebreaking, never provide a potty area when you're there to take her out and supervise her.

Take the crate apart and clean the dickens out of it, a self car wash works great. I always recommend pure white bedding so that you can see even the smallest spot of soil of any kind. Also, white can be bleached but if you do this, be sure to wash at least twice after to remove the bleach smell/fumes.

Good Luck! Where the heck are those pictures? *taps foot*

I kept Fozzie (my Corgi mix) in a similar set-up to the one that you described, (except he was in a large x-pen with his crate, water, indestructable toys, safe chewies and a stuffed Kong) if we were going to be gone for more than an hour or two... it is not IDEAL for the puppy to relieve herself on a potty pad, but it's MUCH more ideal than her doing it in her crate. Fozzie only actually used the puppy pad once or twice, and he never had an accident, ever, in the house. I hope everything works out with her! Corgis are insanely bright little dogs.

More importantly, though... WHERE ARE THE CORGI PUPPY PICTURES!?!? *single tear wells up in eye*

Thanks guys, ill post pics sometime this week.

So if I were to remove the puppy pads in our basement living space where we watch tv and spend most of our at home time, how do I handle her if she has an accident. I mean how do I communicate my dissatisfaction. I don't want to inappropriately punish her.

I would recommend nothing being in the crate--except for some indestructable toys like a kong. Wrigley was 5 lbs when we got him and he could easily hold it 3-4 hours.

Get a newspaper and roll it up very tightly. Secure the ends if needed. Then very sternly repeatedly hit yourself on the head with the newspaper, while repeating "I WILL supervise my dog better!" with every hit.



Seriously, there's nothing you can do if you don't catch her in the act of pottying in the house. If you do catch her in the act, you can quickly interrupt her and take her outside to finish (rewarding her when she finishes outside!!), but to communicate to her that you are unhappy will probably only confuse her and stress her.

:rofl1: you live in the same town as I do!

An effective way of training her when you're all home and able to watch her is to tether her to you with a light leash and set a timer for 30 minutes. Take her out each and every time and make a note of when she does anything. Take a sack of hotdog bits or cooked chicken, something that falls in the "OMG BEST THING EVER!" category for her and have a party anytime she goes potty outside where she's supposed to.

If she goes inside, I just go "ohhhhh" in a really disappointed tone and put them up while I"m cleaning. Once out, it's like nothing happened. They can't really draw the connection between you being miffed for an hour and something they did 5 minutes ago. Use an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Miracle too, this will take away that scent marker that says "it's ok to go here".

If you catch her in the act, either clap your hands or pick her up and rush outside to see if she'll finish. If she does, have that party! During the day, either do as Dr2Little suggested with the pan or just take out everything from the crate until she's reliably holding it. How big is her crate right now? Sometimes the crates are too big and they can get away from the mess. Having someone let her out half-way through the day will help as well, she's really young right now.

Need those pics!

Well, I know it was later than expected, but here they are.

ooh....she is adorable!!

She is ADORABLE

congrats on the addition

she is adorable!!

OMG!

She is so adorable! And fuzzy! And huggable! I would sell my soul to hug that.

How is she doing? I might have missed it... but what's her name? Is her Corgi-tude starting to show yet? Lawl.

OMG!!! There is nothing in the world cuter than a corgi puppy

You can send her to me any time.

She is absolutely adorable!!!